twister [1996]

every damn time i ran across this flick on TV i watch it.  sue me.  i saw this movie on its first run at the sac 6 drive-ins.  where else would you see a pic about an estranged husband and wife tornado hunters, played by helen hunt and bill paxton, along with their rag tag team, as they assail the american midwest in search of mega twister in the pursuit of 'science' but at the drive in.

perfect b-movie fair.  director jan de bont asked van halen to score the soundtrack.  van halen does a credible job at keep the energy up.  but then if de bont scored this movie with a wurlitzer organ viewers would still thrill at ginormous twisters, flying cows and the destruction of scores of villages and homes.  oh, the very handsome cary elwes plays a rival tornado hunter who is only in the business 'for the money', and because he is sponsored by a corporation his team has the coolest, slickest equipment and vehicles money can buy.

anti-corporate corporations.  you heard that right.  for this film is a summer box office fling.  the actors, including the late philip seymor hoffman in what might be his first onscreen appearance, ham it up.  the director ratches up the destruction.  the writers give us enough goofy scenarios to satisfy the most jaded of disaster movie aficionados.  and tho the chemistry between hunt and paxton sucks we don't care because shit is exploding onscreen in a big way.

fucking movie still holds up after all these years.  i watch it now more as comedy than action film.  sure there are those aforementioned flying cows however there is still the preposterous conjectures of being fortunate enough to chase mega twister after mega twister because the characters are engaged in 'research.'  oh, there is a personal adage as well for a dinner scene delineates the categories of tornado giving the highest rating a five and calling it 'the finger of god.'  when one character asks the tornado hunters if they've experienced that 'finger of god' the table goes silent and paxton says, only one of us.  de bont turns his camera to hunt who has just taken a shower.  hint: tornadoes kill and cause damage and goddammit it is personal.

ah yeah.  it's goddam personal.  unlike this movie.  for this is one of the biggest block busters ever to grace our movie screens.  and yet still, this film rocks.  dumb as hell and good as shit too.